The junk in my trunk

[Jack Olsen]

I had to work all through the weekend, but I got a little bit of time this morning -- so I picked up a small project. In the course of the recent engine and suspension work on my car, we did a little bit of weight redistribution, moving the Halon bottle for the fire system and the battery from their front corner locations to positions near the feet of the front passenger. Part of this is to reduce weight near the ends (front or rear) of the car, and part of it was for safety. If you put the front end into a wall or another car, it would be simple to kink the copper lines form the fire bottle, and also easy to have the battery cause problems if there's an impact and it's right out front.

Now here's my disclaimer. This is NOT a show car. The front trunk is packed to the gills every time I go to the track, and the stuff that gets put in there is not kind to paint. I've never cleaned the trunk area, either. But taking those two things out of the front corners took a not-very-pretty situation and made it downright ugly.

Prepare yourself. Here's a 38-year-old trunk that's in desperate need of a little TLC.



Normally there would be a couple of cardboard pieces to block the view of the ventilation stuff and also the wires around the old-technology fuse box. But those were chucked out (for weight) long ago.

Today, though, I decided to do kind of a bare-minimum job, which means I went in there with a rag and some mineral spirits, and then followed up with a brush (that's right, a brush) on the sheet metal and also the gas tank. No masking tape was sacrificed for this effort. This thing's headed for the track, not a show.

I also dropped in the Rennline aluminum piece (from our host) to cover the ventilation stuff. I had to cut a piece of it out because I added a vacuum assist for the brakes.

Here's the new divider in place. I also put back the lid for the smuggler's trunk.



The piece I cut out of the aluminum divider was about the right size to sub in for the missing cardboard door to hide the bird's nest of wires for the fuses. I bent it a couple of times in the vise to make it fit.

The holes make it faster.



Here's the whole thing. There's nothing I can do about the dent in the gas tank. And to save time, I made a grey paint color for the tank by adding some white to the semigloss black I used everywhere else. I hope I don't ever have to match the color.



It's still definitely not a show car. And the cosmetic standards for this kind of interior area were different back in the 1970s. And of course there was carpet and a shiny spare there, back in the day. But this will do for my purposes. It's cleaner. It's got fewer chips and scratches.

And for trips to the track, it'll look like this:



Next track day is in two weeks.

[DRACO A5OG]

Hey Jack O!

She is a True Racer , nice little touches!

Damn, that is optimal use of that little trunk!

Jim

So when the next ACRA at Willow? Love to have you tutor me......Purty please

[Tyson Schmidt]

Jack, we really should have taken a before pick when we first started. Now THAT would've been a night and day contrast!

Looks so much better. Nice job of finishing it off. Is packing easier with the extra room?

[Porboynz]

Fantastic work. I loved your track day packup photo, I used to put 2 race wheels in the front with a toolbox and race suit etc, then 2 wheels in the back seat, fuel, trolley jack etc and drive to the race track on the wets. That way you get 2 or 300 miles of practice on the back roads before the racing even starts. Did I see your horn relay dangling free in the first photo? If the little rubber connector has fallen off the relay base I discovered you can remove the relay and put a self tapper through the base. I pressed a plastic fitting into one of the relay mount holes on the steel mount beside the fuses and its all secure now. Be proud of those chips and scratches, proves the car is driven like it should be. With all those holes drilled she must be very fast.

[DanielDudley]

Been thinking about getting some Eastwood paint for under the battery tray. Nice to realize we don't have to go crazy with the money to keep up with our cars.

Looking good !

[dtw]

That aluminum piece up against your harness/fuse box is a disaster waiting to happen. If you're going to insist on using a piece of metal for the cover, at least put a piece of rubber edging or weatherstripping over the edges.

[Bill Verburg]

One of the beauties of trailering

[Jack Olsen]

That makes me wonder. I've heard the 993 tank can not be retrofitted into an 89-and-earlier tub. But is the same true about the 964 tank?

[pwd72s]

Nice Job, Jack...Aren't those Craftsman "truck boxes" damned handy?

[tdskip]

Originally Posted by DanielDudley

Been thinking about getting some Eastwood paint for under the battery tray.

Not sure standard Eastwood paint would do much good. POR15 or similar will fend off battery stuff more effectively.

[JohnJL]

Bill, whats this? Power steering pump?

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by JohnJL

Bill, whats this? Power steering pump?

ABS pump

[daepp]

Where's the gas tank Bill?

[daepp]

More like 40, no?

[Canada Kev]

Flux capacitor?

[JP911]

Jack-
Any pics of the battery and fire bottle mounting?

[Canada Kev]

Originally Posted by Jack Olsen

That makes me wonder. I've heard the 993 tank can not be retrofitted into an 89-and-earlier tub. But is the same true about the 964 tank?

Jack, aren't the 964 and 993 tanks pretty much the same? I thought they changed them for the 1993 model year and all were the same from then on.

[Flieger]

Originally Posted by DAEpperson

Where's the gas tank Bill?

It is the big black plastic tank behind the strut bar where a Boxster or 996 fuel tank is.

[Jack Olsen]

Originally Posted by syzygy

Jack, aren't the 964 and 993 tanks pretty much the same? I thought they changed them for the 1993 model year and all were the same from then on.

I think you're right. Maybe the next step for me should be a fuel cell in any case.

Originally Posted by JP911

Jack-
Any pics of the battery and fire bottle mounting?

Sure. I went out today and shot these pictures.

Here's the trunk. You can see the kill switch cable just lying there. It goes up through one of the windshield sprayer holes when the car is racing.



Tricky angle, but here's the battery down in the smuggler's compartment. My tie-down strap is kind of a monstrosity. Replacing it is on the to-do list.



And here's the fire bottle in its new position, both under the rug and with the rug rolled back.



Here's the 3-year-old's booster seat, since he's a frequent driving companion.



While I was at it, I swapped out the zinc SAE bolts for the side bars for shorter, stouter (and black) metric units: